Greece, NY Cops in Disturbing Video of African-American Student Assaulted, and Arrested while Walking on Public Sidewalk, Identified as Sgt. James Carris, and officer Valerie Cutt

After multiple unsuccessful attempts in trying to reach Greece, NY Police Chief Todd Baxter, and him not returning my calls, I decided to go down a notch in the chain of command, and contacted Greece Police Captain Patrick Phelan, to see if perhaps he had any comment on the video of GPD officers yelling at Corey McCloud, an African-American Greece Olympia high school student, to “Keep walking!”, on a public Greece sidewalk, before being arrested, on May 15th.

The video, recorded by a Greece Olympia High School student begins with a female Greece, NY Police officer yelling at McCloud to “Keep walking!”

According to the teen who recorded the video, there was a fight at the high school, that did not involve the young teen who was arrested.

“They followed us off the property, and then the undercover officer came out of nowhere”, said the teen.

Captain Phelan sees it differently.

Phelan says that Greece Police were disbursing crowds, and that while most of the youths followed orders, McCloud did not.

“If he had walked away, he would have gone home”, said Phelan.

Captain Phelan also said that Corey McCloud took on a “fighting stance.”

“He was in a fighting stance, he had his hands in a fighting position, and he stuck his chest out”, said Phelan.

I couldn’t disagree more.

What I see in that video is bully, rogue Greece Police officers giving an unlawful order to a young man who was doing wrong, simply walking on a public sidewalk.

I also see a young man who tries to explain to officers that not only is he not doing anything wrong, but that in fact, it’s them, who are walking towards him and it’s them who are being confrontational.

“Fighting stance”?

Are you kidding me?

The young man is retreating, backing up, as he’s being cornered by GPD officers!

If anything, I see a young man with his the palms of his hands showing, in a retreating manner.

In fact, never does Corey McCloud use any expletives, unlike Sgt. Carris!

Phelan said that McCloud was charged with disorderly conduct.

I asked Phelan, what exactly did Corey McCloud do in order to be charged with disorderly conduct, but Phelan said that he did not have the criminal complaint in front of him, so he could not say.

I find it interesting that despite Phelan being adamant that McCloud did not follow what he calls lawful orders, he couldn’t tell me exactly what the young man is accused of, without reading the report.

When I asked Captain Phelan what he thought about Sgt. Carris telling a minor, “Fuck it, you’re under arrest!”, he did not hesitate in giving me an answer.

“The use of that kind of language is absolutely inappropriate, and we are dealing with that”, said Phelan, before adding, “It is not acceptable, and does not comply with our professional standards.”

However, Phelan would not say what “we are dealing with that.” meant.

It doesn’t surprise me that Captain Phelan is going to defend his officers’ actions, and justify the arrest of Corey McCloud, I mean that’s his job.

I will however say, that Captain Phelan was very professional in his conversation with me, something I don’t usually experience with law enforcement.

At one point in our phone conversation, when I asked Captain Phelan, who said he had not watched the video, for the names of the officers, Phelan actially logged on to my blog, and I could hear the video playing on his computer, as he watched it.

After watching the video, Phelan immediately gave me the names.

That’s more than I can say for Rochester, NY Police officials, who have given me a run around in refusing to release names of officers whom I have exposed, only for me to get their names on my own, anyways.

As for your comment Captain Phelan, that if Corey had walked away, he would have gone home, no sir, YOUR officers created, then escalated, a completely unnecessary situation.

Your Sgt., James Carris’ own words to a minor, “Fuck it, you’re under arrest!”, and your Sgt.’s behavior, caught on video, show that he was out of line!

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About The Author

Davy V.Davy V. is a Cuban-American Filmmaker, Video Producer, Photographer and Freelance Writer, best known for using the power of video and film to expose Police Brutality, Corruption and Misconduct.The son of the late Mario Vara, a community activist who for years fought against Police Brutality and Misconduct in Rochester, New York, Davy V. got his start in Television and Video by tagging along and working camera for his father's cable access television show, "La Voz Del Pueblo" (The Voice of The People).Davy V. later went on to produce and host "KEEP IT ON THE REEL", a cable access TV show with a mix of Hip Hop as well as issues affecting African-Americans and Latinos in Rochester, NY, such as Police Brutality and Misconduct. Some guests on the show included Treach, KayGee and Vinnie of Naughty by Nature, Method Man, Funkdoobiest, Da Youngstas, and the Rottin' Razkals.Davy V. won the U.S. ACM Video Festival Award for his Documentary, "R.P.D. EXPOSED!" about the Rochester, New York Police Department and their long history of misconduct, corruption and unnecessary killings of unarmed innocent citizens.
"R.P.D. EXPOSED!" and Davy V.'s follow up, "R.P.D.: Badges of DISHONOR, CORRUPTION and MURDER!" were both screened at the National Hip Hop Political Convention at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey.Davy V.'s work has been featured in publications such as THE SOURCE Hip Hop Magazine, URBAN AMERICA Magazine, The Ave. Magazine, Insider Magazine, La Voz Newspaper, Minority Reporter Newspaper, CNY LATINO Newspaper, DOWN Magazine, as well as on television news stations, and programs such as CNN and Inside Edition.In addition to his freelance writing, Davy V. also writes a monthly Op/Ed Column for LA VOZ Magazine and Minority Reporter Newspaper.In June 2012, Davy V. joined Cop Block as a regular contributor.

Keep trying. I give you an “A” for tenacity. He k, with as many holes as you have dug I’d of thought you’d have found something by now. But you have nothing other than an officer using “foul language” in the middle of a heated situation. Wow what an investigative reporter you aren’t.

Davy V.

LMFAO! Why thank you t., I’ll take the A, and listen closely, I love to be underestimated, it gives me an indescribable high. It’s what drives me. It’s what motivates me. Losers like you, and Common, and Justin, who live through someone like me with a relentless passion and unwavering commitment to continue to expose dirty cops. Don’t you get it by now? You don’t matter. None of you do. You’re nobodies. You are cowards. You can’t look on the mirror and honestly say that you have ever stood up for anything. I literally laugh my ass off when I read your comments, or Common’s or the elementary school stalker. I have enjoyed getting a laugh at how petty your lives are that you have nothing better to do than to hate. With that, I will go back to ignoring you losers. Stay tuned… the best is yet to come!

t.

Where have you seen hate? What you are seeing is pity. I pity those that you are intentionally leading astray. The weak mind will follow you end up in serious trouble or getting really hurt. But you as a keyboard commando won’t be there to help them. You be hiding out somewhere, posting more bad intel. I come here trying to educate people to the truth. Life is t always what you want. Sometimes it’s just what you get. But the horribly misinformed around here, and you as one of the principle purveyors, should be saddened that you intentional set people up for failure. If they follow my advice, they’d never get in trouble, with yours, they never get out. You are a far cry from the “freedom warrior” you like to paint yourself as.

certain

You actually have something worth making an issue of here. The problem is, even if you manage to make a few citizens in your area concerned, as soon as they call the chief, and he details the list of complaints you have submitted, any concern goes out the window. Like somebody else once pointed out, you’ve cried wolf just a few too many times.

https://www.facebook.com/585ROC Justin

LMAO! I see you at a school once, and I’m an elementary school stalker, thats classic. There goes one more lie you have made up about me.

I do find it funny though, you call me a coward, I am willing to meet with you, you on the other hand are too scared to.

So say what you will Davy, we know the truth about you.

And you call this an update? lmao, so what, you got their names, and thats it. Did you happen to ask if the MINOR (btw, shouldnt use minors names in your stories) was taken to jail or released to his parents? Bet you didnt.

https://www.facebook.com/585ROC Justin

And you have still failed to answer what his skin color has to do with any of this. I only ask because we can all obviously see it, but you make it a point to say it, over and over……..

Elian Gonzalez

This still seems like a non issue. There was a large scale fight. The police were attempting to deescalate by dispersing. The knucklehead in the video failed to comply, and was arrested. In typical Davy fashion, the video shows no wrong doing, but makes outlandish claims for what cannot be seen in the video. In this case it was simply an African American student walking down the sidewalk that drew the attention of the big bad white police men and women. One of the officers said “fuck” during the course of the arrest. Last I knew, Davy is protected by his first amendment rights, as are the police. It might not be considered professional, but in the heat of the moment, it was a slip. We don’t know what language the youths were using towards the police, as that is not in the video. Sometimes you have to rise to the that same level to get someones attention.

Justin

I have watched, and listened, and you can hear this kid tell the officers “don’t fucking touch me!” So if its ok for this KID to swear at a police officer who is trying to clear the scene, then I’m pretty sure the kids feelings were not hurt by the officer’s use of the same word.

Everyone has said it was a large scale fight, it’s good you don’t deny that, but how are these officers to know who was involved, who was actually there to fight or who was there to just watch? You can say this kid was not involved, but no one knows that but the kid. The cops sure as hell didnt know that, that is why they were telling EVERYONE to keep walking, not just the “African – American” kid.

This “update” is total BS, proves nothing, just like the original story, all you got were his charge and the officers names, wooohooo Go Davy!

But then again, what do I know, I am just a parent of a child that goes to that school and is friends with these kids, I don’t see the things they say everyday or anything. Lmao!

Chris Mallory

All employees of the government should be uniformed.

All cops lie, all the time.

Disarm cops for a safer America.

http://www.badgeabuse.com badgeabuse

justin …
what law states you can’t cuss a LEO out?

t.

Mallory: Don’t you mean “costumed”?

Abuser: What “law” says its illegal for the police to cuss you out?

Justin

I never said you couldn’t swear at cop. What I said was, why is it a big deal that the cop said fuck. The kid obviously has full command of the word in his vocabulary already.

http://www.badgeabuse.com badgeabuse

T

there isn’t any…even if there were, you LEO’s do as you please anyways….but then again I don’t know what boss would let you run around foul mouthed like that.

I am positive the kid wasn’t at work…

I don’t talk that way to LEO’s I treat them with the same respect that is given…. always

t.

Abuser: Ok. So this kid was shown the same respect he gave. Still a problem?

Don’t get me wrong…this is all just a matter of degree. An officer standing there cussing a blue streak to someone is a lot different than using an expletive or 2 in the heat of battle.

Yours is a good approach, most here can’t understand it though.

Ariel

“Abuser: What “law” says its illegal for the police to cuss you out?” It’s usually under professional standards for and by the particular PD. I’m sure that you can show where PD’s have “cuss all you want at the public, it’s a professional standard we uphold”. But this raises some questions: “The use of that kind of language is absolutely inappropriate, and we are dealing with that”. Not everything is law. And yeah you lose some rights to hold a job. Any job.

“don’t get me wrong…this is all just a matter of degree. An officer standing there cussing a blue streak to someone is a lot different than using an expletive or 2 in the heat of battle.” You know I can give you that, even though I think your standard would change with another video. Sorry, I think the cynicism is deserved.

The “fighting stance” is just funny.

t.

Areil: Policy is a guide, not a rule. And certainly not a “law”.
Please do us all a favor and stop the juvenile “quoting” myself and others out of context. First…you lose the context of the statement that way AND it makes you comment annoyingly and needlessly long.

ap

All cops are bastards.

cookie

The first part of this story is missing. Where is it?

RadicalDude

totally bogus arrest, cops acting like juvenile delinquents

Ariel

t.,

If professional standards aren’t guidelines to be followed, then what are professional standards but something to ignore? Never used “policy”, though I usually use “policy & procedures”. Never said it was a law.

The reason I quote, and no it doesn’t make it out of context, is for the very reason above. You turned one phrase to a word, then argued that word is not “rule”. Qoutes keep people to their words. And I do try to be careful, and even take into account what I didn’t quote for sake of tenor. My verbosity makes it annoyingly long; really please learn to make distinctions.

You do realize your comments are often annoyingly unanchored and way, way out of context? I’ll continue to quote what I want to address, and you can vote with your feet. Or you can just be forever petulant about it.

wiguy

I was arrested for saying “Fuck.”

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t. says:
May 23, 2013 at 6:13 pm

Abuser: Ok. So this kid was shown the same respect he gave. Still a problem?

I missed the part of the kid pushing the LEO’s….how ever, I did catch the part of the LEO’s pushing the kid…..

is that the same “respect” you speak of?

And I would call policy a rule….other wise why was it established as policy?????

t.

Abuser: Go back to your 5/23 @ 4:30 pm comment. Did you read it? It’s right there in the first sentence.

Areal: Your quoting is just like @shawn and the other that do it all the time. You cherry pi k out what you want and move on. Kinda like everyone around here wanting to do us on ammendments to the constitution and ignoring / denying the rest of the document. My biggest problem with you doing it here is the tedious nature of it.

Ariel

t.,

“Ariel’s 5/24 @ 6:13 am comment. First sentence. See it? “Law”.” t., if you’re going to use anchors (and I applaud you for the attempt) get the times straight. You were 1813, I was at 0513. It was a good first attempt and appreciated.

Now as for “law”, I didn’t write it was under a law, but under professional standards for the profession. At 1246 I implied that it may be part of “policy & procedures”, but still not “law”. When you work for a company it’s professional standards and it’s P&P is what you are supposed to sdhere to to avoid firing; it’s a statement of what the company stands for and how it expects its employees to behave. Using the excuse “but it’s not a law” would be met with derision as they kicked your or my ass out the door.

Sorry for the quote (I’d call it a requote, but I like to use English as English): “You cherry pi k (sic) out what you want and move on.” Cherry-picking is rather specific on “to select the best or most desirable” and is really used to support ones own arguments, seldom as a basis for rebuttal or refutation (that takes work) but I’ll get to how/why that seldom applies. Let’s say you’re right in what I read as your sense of cherry-picking and Shawn and I cherry-pick your words for ease of refutation (I’ll argue your “out of context” as pleading), I think you imply that, so why would you write something so easy to refute? Why would you write what can be easily refuted by even a facile argument, let alone by one not facile?

If Shawn or I quoted an entire paragraph of yours, tore it apart sentence by sentence, we’d still be left with a rebuttal from you that was either argument by assertion or special pleading. Or worse, something like “you support NAMBLA” or “you support no limits”. You’ll fit either in somewhere.

Wicked Vet

Arrested for blocking the sidewalk? Is that even a legit reason? They put laws on the books to use against anyone who they feel doesn’t respect their authority. Grow up Cartman! Welcome to the real world, no one respects cops, not one single person I know to include current and former cops who wanted to change things and realized that you can’t the blue line is to thick and too corrupt. What do high school bullies grow up to be? Ahole cops.

t.

Vet: Then don’t listen. But don’t bitch when you get arrested for it.

Ariel

Yeah, he was really blocking the sidewalk. Did you even watch the video, t., and if you did can you give the moment that he blocked the sidewalk?

t.

The video started after the were already detained numbnuts. Even for you that was a dumb comment.

Ariel

t.,

The order to keep walking is not a detention. Unless you detain people by telling them to walk away. The “blocking the sidewalk” came at 0:17, and who was he blocking prior?

Even for you that was a dumb comment.

http://blogs.reuters.com/muniland/ Cate Long

The cops were belligerent and appear to have escalated the situation.

In the 45 seconds the video covers they likely turned a number of young people watching the scene against police as an institution. Kudos to the student who taped it.

If cops can’t keep their “cool” and exhibit professional behavior, especially in a school setting, they need to find another profession.

The undercover cop screaming in the face of the student (who clearly was not on the sidewalk) is really lame. The student appeared relatively passive about the situation and likely would have taken direction promptly if not screamed at.

This is not an isolated incidence. Police nationwide act way outside the boundaries of “law enforcement officer”.

Keep up your good work Davey.

Ariel

“The cops were belligerent and appear to have escalated the situation.” Ex-cops often allude to that as a problem in modern policing. Immediate belligerence followed by escalation to violence. No defusing as that challenges their authority.

It’s why the South Park quote.

t.

Areil: posted to wrong thread.

t.

That comment was for the idiots stopped in Philly with the flyers.

Ariel

t. I commented after watching the video and to Cate Long. Her comment was pertinent. Yours floats.

And damn it show some knowledge and spell Ariel right, s.

Ariel

So now my cross-comment to all LEOS from t.’s “I have to protect EVERYONES RIGHTS. You are only concerned with YOUR RIGHTS.” I use “you” for the profession

No you enforce the law. If tomorrow the law was “free speech is confined to a 100 yard radius” at a municipal center, you’d enforce that law. If tomorrow the law said “round up Muslims” you would enforce that law. You enforced Jim Crow. You enforced anti-miscegnation laws. You beat bloody the Labor movement, the movement that gave you your Unions and wrongly because private isn’t public. If tomorrow SCOTUS made the 4th and 5th moot by decree, you’d move accordingly. You wouldn’t wait for the amendment, SCOTUS would suffice.

If the laws are wrong, you enforce them. You aren’t a moral agent, you never have been. Your profession isn’t based on moral agency, it’s based on enforcing the law. You enforce laws even if morally wrong. You need to get that. You need to understand your part in injustice, accept it, and realize who you actually are: you enforce laws, no matter the morality. You aren’t moral agents, you enforce the law.

The rest of us determine the law and it’s moral worth. You don’t, your profession has nothing to say on it. You are not moral agents.

t.

Areil: As for you handle….my tablet autocorrects it. My phone doesn’t. Depends on the device.

We’ve already determined (elsewhere) that you are morally bankrupt. I guess you should just stick to spelling and grammar.

Ariel

t.,

Okay, you’re forgiven and your auto correct needs to be shut off. There is no word or name Areil (I neglect stupid parents).

“We’ve already determined (elsewhere) that you are morally bankrupt.” Which is why you shouldn’t play pocket pool thinking you’re having a conversation with another sentient being. Assertions, assertions, with no foundation.

This conversation you have in your pocket is part of the reason I made the post that you enforce laws but are not moral agents. Only part.